Recent and relatively casual user of Eskimo North. Initially connected to try different DSL backhaul from CenturyLink, though have since switched back to get higher access speeds. Set up a wordpress blog earlier this year to document a bike trip and a coppermine site to host pictures from a class reunion.

Have a dormant side project that I may revive and use Eskimo to upload data to and host a site. Will try to attend the user's group meeting tomorrow to meet folks.

To clarify on the speed issues. CenturyLink has installed remote DSLAMs (A DSLAM is the device the other end of your circuit terminates on, it's like a multi-port DSL modem for many users) that are not in the central office but connected by fiber to service people in areas not close to the central office. They do not provide ISPs access to those remote DSLAMs, we only have access to central office facilities. The reason for this has to do with the technology they used, the old DSLAMs used ATM connection which our backhaul provider uses while the remote DSLAMs use an IP tunneling type of connection incompatible with the backhaul we use (which is the only one available to us).

He did not get faster speeds because their back haul is faster, although CenturyLink has their own as opposed to contracting with MSN so it is on the whole better than it was in the past, but because he is closer to one of those remote DSLAMs and can get a higher speed circuit to it.

Right, what Nanook said. It also turns out I may have had physical line issues that my old DSL modem/router did not reveal. After upgrading to a bonded pair DSL, the new modem has much better information on line retrains and error recovery. My voice line (which was my only DSL line before) turns out to have had serious issues after it rains for a while, getting lots of CRC errors and retraining quite frequently, and dropping speed below what it is provisioned for. After many tech visits, a cable repair tech seems to have finally resolved it this last Friday after coming out for two days in a row.

It also turns out the fiber in my neighborhood (north Queen Anne), which has been hanging out there since summer, is now lit, and their techs have told me they will be eventually trying to get everyone off of copper some years down the line.